Mergers and acquisitions for RIAs set an all-time record high last month in what DeVoe & Co. is calling an “October surprise” and a “major milestone.”

The 39 total deals for October for firms of more than $100 million in AUM nearly doubled both the number of deals completed in September and in October of 2023, both of which recorded 21 deals.

“Although one shouldn’t read too much into a single month of data,” David DeVoe, founder and CEO of DeVoe & Company, said in a statement, “the surge in October’s RIA M&A activity is a conspicuous spike following nearly three years of unremarkable activity.”

The next highest month occurred in January 2021 with 33. The numbers have averaged roughly 65 per quarter since then.

“DeVoe & Company recently predicted that declining interest rates would likely drive up private equity-backed buyer activity,” David DeVoe said. “It seems evident that these organizations were accelerating their activity in anticipation of the long-awaited rate cuts.”

RIA activity as of Nov. 1 grew 12% for the year compared with the same period in 2023. So far this year,  232 transactions have been completed, surpassing the 208 transactions recorded by Nov. 1 last year. Eighty-three percent of the deals were executed by private equity or private equity-backed acquirers, “a material uptick from the historic 70% the group has maintained over the last few years,” said DeVoe & Company, an investment bank and consulting company that focuses on the wealth management industry.

Beacon Pointe, a national firm based in Southern California; Cerity Partners, a national advisory firm with 35 offices; and Waverly Advisors, a national firm with $14.4 billion in AUM, were standouts in the field with three transactions each during October, “a rare achievement in the industry,” DeVoe & Company said.

“The declining cost of capital will likely lead to more acquisitions overall. But the greater impact will likely come from private equity-backed consolidators and acquirers,” the firm reported. “As the cost of capital decreases and debt service ratios improve, these firms will have more confidence to deploy capital. Essentially, the most active players in the marketplace will have the rationale to invest more aggressively.”